In the pre-modern Indian cities the neighbourhoods were divided along class lines. Traditionally the inner part of these cities used to house the high status social groups while the groups lower in rank used to be at the margin of the cities. The British colonizers made certain type of intervention in these cities. They established a well-serviced and salubrious settlement adjacent to the old city. The civil lines, cantonments, and the railway colonies constituted the new city whose basic design was markedly different from the old parts. Now Bombay’s diverse population was based on the centrality of commerce and ethnic segregation. Now, if in the history of Indian cities the dominant communities had the first right to the city and the city dwellers always lived with their own people what is unique about ‘enclave urbanism’?